Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Rambling Thoughts on Calexit

This is a personal reflection on Calexit, so it reads like a journal entry. I'll do a more detached piece on it soon.

I've been somewhat bothered by the recent anti-Trump hysteria and I'm of two minds about it. First, I read the Anonymous Conservative blog regularly. He has predicted this outrage, and also that it will lead to a landslide re-election by Trump. He posted just this morning on the subject.

The President’s blitzkrieg of actions this week has hit leftists from so many directions that they are feeling wholly powerless, and beginning to break down in the way a child breaks down when they are powerless. Their brains have adapted to eight years of Obama telling conservatives that elections have consequences, as he then did whatever the left wanted. Now, every day is a new series of multiple hits to their amygdalae, by a leader who is completely immune to any demands or appeals by the opposition. They just can’t continue like this, without breaking into tears.

This is a powerful effect these leftists are enduring, and their brains will be changed by it. The brain is a funny thing. When it encounters agony, it doesn’t always make a conscious, intellectual effort to alleviate it. It may try. But if the pain is enduring then over time the brain stumbles upon actions which alleviate the pain purely by chance. It notes them, and then it drives the individual to repeat those actions, because to the brain they feel good.

Many leftists are going to tune out of politics periodically over the next few years. When they do, they are going to find amygdala relief. No longer does tuning in to politics bring the little dopamine rush it did under Obama. Now, tuning in brings a little shot of irritation and upset. As they tune out, their brain will relax, and it will note the change at the subconscious level. Once it does, it will subtly drive them to tune out more and more, because each tune out will be more enjoyable than a tune in. Once the brain learns that, it will then be a small step to getting angry when people at awards shows try to forcibly tune them back in by preaching the gospel of leftism. The effect will be magnified greatly by the hedonistic nature of leftism.

Once that happens, liberals will be forcibly demoralized in the same way they were under Reagan, and the left in America will have begun to die back. But for this to happen, the left can have no respite, and enjoy absolutely no victory. They must be conditioned to believe that any action they take will be futile. If they enjoy even one “win” as a result of their activity, they will be back, and fueled by euphoria, their drive will be twice as strong. Fortunately, President Trump seems to only be strengthened by their opposition.

Long story short, Trump is going to make being a liberal so painful that people will simply stop being liberal for the sake of comfort. His prediction is that in 2020 we will be quite surprise by some of the people who will be supporting Trump. We'll have to wait and see. There is some precedent, as Reagan was acutely villified by liberals and won his re-election in a 49-state sweep.

And yet, this seems different. I can't be too sure, because I wasn't born yet, but I don't think we can really compare the liberal angst now to what was happening in 1980. Were people nearly this agitated? Never mind the brownshirt tactics of liberals on the streets, or the revelations they were being funded and orchestrated by the DNC, but did the corporate media lose it's grip like this in 1980? It seems we are at an entirely new level of dissidence.

What has me worried is that practically all mainstream liberals now have a values system that is completely incompatible with the rest of America. They want open borders. They want a welfare state. They want social justice (i.e. Marxism). It's not a matter of who's right and who's wrong at this point (of course we are right), but that we have two nations living in one country. And it is being torn apart at the seams.

More than anything else I am a states' rights guy. I'm not liberal, but in a lot of ways I'm not all that conservative. Those political affiliation quizzes normally mark me as a centrist (although I've never taken one that wasn't horribly flawed). As I've mentioned here many times, I'm not against abortion, but I'm against Roe v. Wade. It should be a states' right issues. I'm fairly neutral on marijuana legalization but I support the states that have been retaking those rights back from Washington. Oregon can smoke dope if it wants to. I also find I'm more liberal the closer I get to the local. I reject national healthcare entirely, but I'd be open to state programs, even in my own state, or at the local level. I'm even fine with different states legalizing gay marriage, but I find the Supreme Court ruling forcing all 50 states to adopt it to be appalling.

States' right people are almost always conservatives. And liberals are almost always against states' rights. I'm not entirely sure why that is, except that liberals tend to want to use the state to push their views onto others. I think of how the city of Salem Missouri chose to fly its flag at half-mast after the Supreme Court ruling forcing gay marriage, and it became a national outrage! It's not enough for east coast liberals to have gay marriage on the east coast. It must be accepted into the far reaches of Greater Appalachia and any resistance must be ridiculed and shamed. But I digress.

I have been of the opinion that this country is ready for balkanization. The two nations of America need to be separate geographically while it can be done peacefully. But really this can simply be done through strong state's rights. This concept of making everything a national debate is maddening. Who cares if Kansas outlaws abortions and California doesn't? No one in either state is affected by the other.

I don't think I've met a liberal yet who would accept such a states' rights situation, so the support Calexit is getting is somewhat surprising. What is a state succession movement but the nuclear option for states' rights? Liberals don't care for states right at all unless it is of the most extreme flavor. Of course this isn't totally shocking, because we know The Left is Unprincipled. They generally react to whatever emotions they are feeling right now at this very moment.
We find ourselves at an interesting crossroads where I've been advocating for states' rights or balkanization, or there will be civil war. Until now the left has refused states' rights and largely ridiculed secession movements when they're brought up in places like Texas. But now they're pushing for a California exit! For the first time in a long time, I'm in agreement with liberals, and for the same reason! Although there was a similar sentiment late last year when BLM was calling for all blacks to move to the southeast to gain political power in those states. I was okay with that. That was balkanization. In fact it may be the only thing BLM ever said that I agreed with.

We now have a situation that is not defined by the left/right divide in America. There are various interests on both sides. Within California there may be a fair left-right divide, but outside not so much. Liberals in the other states will want to see the formation of basically a liberal state, many will move there. Other liberals will worry that US national politics will become dominated by conservatives. Meanwhile many conservatives will be happy to wave them goodbye, but others refuse to cede one inch of land to those Communists.
I support Brexit for two reasons.

It is the first step of balkanization. I don't seek a US where conservatives can dictate terms to coastal liberals. I'm ready for a middle American state.

I actually want liberals to have self-determination. If they want a hyper liberal state and a march towards Communism then fine, just don't drag me into it. Ideally states' rights would allow that, but that just isn't how it's been working.

For Calexit to succeed they must be able to make the case not just to Californians, but to the rest of America as well. The vast majority of Americans, probably 2/3, must agree that is in everyone's best interest for it to happen peacefully. The federal government must also be, if not convinced, at least kept in check about it. I don't know what Trump's stance on such a move would be. He seems to be a backer of states' rights, but secession is a whole other matter. I highly doubt he is willing to be seen as the failure president who caused the dissolution of the union.